Dematerialisation and material flow analysis as sustainability indicators in the extraction of mineral resources

Luis de la Torre de Palacios and José Antonio Espí Rodríguez

Resources Policy, 2022, vol. 79, issue C

Abstract: Dematerialisation and material flow analysis (MFA) are relatively older concepts that have been previously addressed in academia, particularly in Europe. These concepts appear in studies on the use of material resources, industrial metabolism, and the global strategies of dematerialisation of our society. To verify their usefulness in the exploitation of mineral resources, four cases with sufficient information have been used to assess indicators and the associated environmental impacts of mass movement. The chosen cases are in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) and present the ideal conditions for the application of the analysis. The paper concludes by recognising the contributions of the concept to date as well as states that the quality of the material moved, assessed by other environmental tools, should be combined with this application.

Keywords: Material flow analysis; Dematerialisation; Environmental tools; Iberian pyrite belt; Sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jrpoli:v:79:y:2022:i:c:s0301420722005748

DOI: 10.1016/j.resourpol.2022.103131

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